Things I'm lovin'

Kombucha - I usually roll with the Grape, but I picked up a few Passionberry to try out. I've been enjoying them all week.

Avocados - can't get enough! Every burger we grilled this past weekend had some avocado on it with a side of chips & homemade guacamole. I top off many of my sandwiches & salads with avocado, but also enjoy it solo. Sophia is also a fan ;)


Peanut Butter & Banana sandwiches & smoothies

Snuggle Time

This new-to-me Jalapeno Greek Yogurt Dip I found at Costco

The many different gardens growing at my parent's house. They are currently growing sweet potatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, & red peppers.

Random sleepy times for Sophia - this was her after eating dinner on Monday night. 

MDW 2012

Its already the weekend and I'm still getting over the lovely 3-day weekend we just had! This week has flew by!
For Memorial Day weekend we really wanted to go out of town for a short vacay but we had offered our services to help a friend move on Saturday. I don't know exactly how much I helped having Sophia with me but I did help organize and unpack kitchen stuff and I also put their bed frame together (Handy Alex, I am) while Sophia crawled around scooping the new apartment out.

The rest of the weekend looked a lot like this:

Fun in the sun

and feasts! 

Turkey burgers, baked beans, macaroni salad, coleslaw, and corn-on-the-cob! YUM

I should have taken a picture of a beer & pina colada because we also had a few of those over the long weekend. 

Sunday we were half way to St.Pete Beach when it started pouring rain. Our friends were in front of us in their Jeep (with the top down) and so we quickly made a Uturn and headed back to Tampa. We ended up at our friend's new apartment pool (the one we helped move into the day before), then headed to a place Crabby Bill's on the water for dinner & pina coladas, then to another friend's house to end the day playing in their pool! Lots of pool playin' going on.

Monday we had planned to make another attempt at the beach but the morning was pretty gloomy, so we stayed home and grilled some burgers on the grill, then went to Menchie's for a fro-yo date to top off the weekend. 

Love, 

Alex

Drink your Aloe

Hey! Just sitting here enjoying some Aloe. I love the little bits of aloe in this drink. I purchased a couple of these at the Italian market on Sunday. It's actually really good & a little sweet, sweetened with real sugar.

Last night for girl's night we met at the mall food court so everyone could choose what they wanted. I got Chicken Kitchen which is kind of like Chipolte in the sense that they serve bowls with rice, beans, grilled chicken, and whatever you want on it. There was only 3 of us and turned out to be a short girl's night. On my way home my sweet tooth kicked me in the face (I crave sweets when I'm feeling under the weather) so I texted Angelo to have a cup of ice cream ready for me. He did...he's a keeper ;) 

This morning was a plate of fruit (mango, strawberry, kiwi) with the last of yet another box of Steel Cut Oats and my reg latte. 

I started to clean out Sophia's closet after breakfast when Sophia was taking her morning stroll through the childproofed house. I filled an entire storage container with clothes that don't fit her anymore and started filling another :( I hung up a lot of 12months clothes that have been sitting in bags at the bottom of her closet. 

Right now Sophia is napping and when she wakes up we will go on a run then the grocery store to pick up some ingredients to make a homemade marinara sauce for the new-to-me pasta we bought from the Italian market. Angelo bought a container of "REAL" Parmesan cheese and keeps reminding me that he needs pasta to go with it. 

Hope you all have a great Tuesday!

Love, 

Alex

What happened to the ABC's?!

O is for Onsie
When Sophia was born & super tiny she wore a lot of onsies because they were super easy. Newborns go through so many diapers and spitup a lot, so onsies are a MUST. We would go through 3-4 outfit changes a day at the very beginning. Now, Sophia only really wear onsies to sleep because all the other outfits just look too cute!

Italian candy shop

Last week Angelo was sick when he got back from the Dominican. He then passed it to Sophia who was running a fever last Wed & Thurs, now I have it. Nice eh? I don't really feel that bad except a slight headache, stuffy nose & scratchy throat.

Being sick sucks because it messes with my appetite. Breakfast this morning was kinda small. Just a little ol muffin & couple pieces of fruit. That glass is you see if half water, half aloe vera juice! 

Yesterday was quite the day. We left home around 10am, pretty early for us on a Sunday. We went to the Boat Show at the fairgrounds for about an hour. There, we took turns carrying Sophia around because we forgot the stroller. Talk about a back breaker. 

After the walking around and dreaming about our future boat, back home we went for the stroller, then off to the Farmer's Market which was past the airport (not the quickest drive from home). We couldn't find this "Farmer's Marker" for about 20 minutes, U-turn after U-turn. Then we found it, a measly little market with about 9 stands and a guy playing a banjo. I think we were there about 5 minutes. Our long trip over there wasn't wasted through! We found an Italian market right across the street. Angelo was running around this market like a kid in a candy shop! All the cheeses, pastas, Italian cookies, meats, wine, etc, etc made him all giggly. haha

We got lots of veggies to grill and cheese to bring over to my parents house to watch the Miami Heat game.

I read the newspaper, twitter, and drank Italian wine with my mom while Angelo & my dad watched the game and Sophia slept. 

Lovely.

This morning Sophia & I are off to go workout at the PowerPlate studio, then back home for some laundry & chores, then Girl's night lata! Fun stuff! 

Love, 

Alex

Me muffins

Top of the mornin' to ya!
It's another Sunday, bright n sunny with a chance of rain a little later on.


Sophia is sleeping away as I type this. Her naps yesterday were nonexistent; she took MAYBE a total of a 30 minute nap during the entire day, so last night was a fight to get her to sleep. She finally wonked out around 9pm and slept pretty good until 6am this morning. She passed out for her morning nap about an hour ago after eating a little piece of muffin, strawberry & kiwi, and still sleeping away!


Yesterday we went for a run down beautiful Bayshore blvd

then to a friend's house for her birthday pool party where Sophia got to sport her new Strawberry bathing suit & hat. We spent most of the party in the pool because it was so hot out and Sophia loves to play & splash in the water. On our way home we stopped to eat at Outback Steakhouse. 

Funny thing about Outback: It's Angelo's fave restaurant and when I was pregnant we ate it once a week or MORE because not me, but ANGELO craved it. Now I limit it to about once every 2 months because I can't really stand it but Angelo still likes it. BLEH. 

Breakfast this morning was 2 eggs, an oatmeal banana muffin, and some strawberry & kiwi left over from slicing them up for Sophia.  
I made these muffins Friday night because I bought the world's worst banana's on Thursday and they were browning already by Friday morning. I knew I had to use them up quick or freeze them for smoothies. I froze half the bunch and used 2 for me delish muffins! I got the muffin recipe from Half Baked Baker and made some changes. Her recipe is gluten free,mine is not.


Banana Oatmeal Muffins

1 1/4 cup old-fashion rolled oats (not instant)
1 container (6oz) of nonfat plain greek yogurt (I used Fage)
1/2 cup almond milk (original)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 bananas, large, ripe, mashed
1 egg, large, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
Preheat oven to 400 ºF .
In a bowl mix together rolled oats, yogurt and milk. Let soak for 10 minutes.
Mix flour, salt, spices, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl.
Add brown sugar, mashed banana, egg and oil to rolled oats mixture. Mix well.
Add dry ingredients to the rolled oats mixture. Mix well. Fill greased or paper lined muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake for  20 minutes. Enjoy ;)

This afternoon we're thinking about going over to the Fairgrounds to look at some boats at the Boat Show, then to the Farmer's marker. I love me some Farmer's Markets and try and drag Angelo to as many as I can. His only request is that we be home by 3pm for the Miami Heat game...wah wah wah! ;)
Hope you have a relaxing and/or productive Sunday! It's a beauitful day! 


Love, 
Alex

Teething

TGIF!

Someone has a tooth coming in!!! I can feel it, barely see it, but it’s definitely there! Unfortunately teething comes with running a fever, crankiness, and a range of other symptoms. Sophia has been sleeping A LOT the past 2 days but only wants to be sleeping on me, so we’ve been spending a lot of time snuggling & catching up on our DVR shows.

My sleeping beauty

12 signs of teething: (source)

1. Drooling.  CHECK
2. Chin or face rash.
3. Coughing.
4. Biting.
5. Pain. CHECK
6. Irritability. CHECK
7. Refusal to feed. 
8. Diarrhea.
9. Low-grade fever. CHECK
10. Wakefulness.  CHECK
11. Gum hematoma.
12.Ear pulling; cheek rubbing CHECK

Sophia is having 6/12 of these symptoms.  

Yesterday we were very low-key & turned down going to lunch with our 2 besties. I knew Sophia was going to be a crank monster so we only left the house twice; once to go for a run (I think the fresh air did Sophia some good), then a quick trip to Publix to pick up some Almond milk. The rest of the day was spent on the couch watching the finale of Desperate Housewives (SO GOOD but can’t believe it’s really over!!) and the movie New Years Eve. Verdict: it was a cute movie, almost exactly like the Valentine’s Day movie.

Sophia woke up around 1am with a low grade fever, then again this morning at 7am. I gave her some infant Tylenol and a bath and her fever broke. She is currently sleeping (on my lap on the boppy) and I’m wondering if we should go do our Powerplate workout this morning. I’m thinking of just taking a run with her in the stroller instead since it seemed to help her yesterday.  At some point today we have to go to the mall & get Sophia a new bathing suit. ;) If she’s feeling better tomorrow we have a birthday pool party to go to!  

Well, I hope you guys have a great & healthy weekend!

Love,

Alex

Ketch-Up

Whoa…long time no post eh? So much going on over here....ready? go!

I haven’t been home much the past week due to Angelo having to rush out of town to the Dominican Republic. I had some friend’s stay with me Wednesday & Thursday night, then stayed at my parent’s house Friday night.

Saturday Sophia turned 9 months old!!

To celebrate, we went to Siesta Key, Sarasota with my parents to watch my brother & sis-in-law do the Florida Triathlon.

then we hung out on the beach the rest of the day. 

Angelo wasn’t due back home until around midnight (had to drive from Miami airport) so I rented some movies & snuggled up on the couch with a cup of ice cream & a beer until he got home. It was just one of those days…

Sunday (MOTHER’S DAY!) was absolutely PERFECT! Sophia woke me up with a gift, we ate a bagel for breakfast, went on a 6 mile run in Tampa, stopped for lunch at a schnazzy place called Datz. Any place who serves Monkey Bread is a keeper in my book. After lunch we stopped by the grocery store to pick up some steaks & SkinnyGirl Pina Colada to bring over to my brother’s house were my family had dinner & drinks out on their patio. Again…Perfect.

Monday Angelo stayed home from work sick, must of picked something up in the DR. So Sophia & I left the house in the morning to go workout & run some errands. When Angelo started to feel better I picked him up and we went to run some more errands. Monday night at GNO, we went to Tijuana Flats (I love their Tacos!).

Yesterday was kind of a boring day as I started to feel kind of crappy myself. Sophia & I went on a run in the morning, then just hung out on the couch until lunch time when we brought Angelo some soup, then went to pick up our Dealer License (FINALLLLLLY…only took 2 months) from the DMV. 

On today's agenda we're going to go workout, Gymborree class, the mall to get some links taken out of my watch (Mother's Day present), then to a friend's house to help her with some computer problems. Fun Stuff all around. 

Hope you guys have been having a productive week! 

Love, 

Alex

Sophia the Gate Keeper

Work-it-Out Wednesday! Hey Hey!

This morning was a Mango-banana smoothie for breakfast with an alternative bagel. I was skeptical about these bagels but they’re actually pretty good & the perfect size.

Almond milk, JP complete vanilla protein, almond butter, mango, banana, ice.

Yesterday was a very relaxing day, very unusual for a Tuesday. Sophia & I hung out at home all day after taking our morning run. She took 2 1-hour long naps and I got a lot of organizing done in the office. Then Sophia played gate-keeper with the doggies outside. 

Lunch time came around & I made a Southwestern chicken salad with some left overs from Cinco De Mayo. The dogs had a Mexican fiesta in their bowls this morning with the rest of the left overs . I’ll only eat leftovers a day or 2 afterwards.

Spring mix, crockpot fajita chicken, brown Mexican rice, black beans, carrots, avocado, salsa. 

This morning we’re going to Work-it-Out at the PowerPlate studio, followed by another workout session at Gymboree. ;) Hope you all have a productive Wednesday! What are you doing to Work-it-Out today?!

Love,
Alex

N is for..
Never stopping
Parenting is really a 24/7 job for a stay-at-home mom.  Sometimes you need a breather & a little time for yourself. Other than working out, it's been hard for me to find that "me" time. 

Nap
Unfortunately this mommy never takes naps. I’ve never been a nap person as I always feel MORE tired after I take one.  The only time I actually nap is when I’m feeling a little under the weather. Other wise I’m working on the computer, doing laundry, or absorbed into Pinterest when Sophia takes her nap. Sophia isn’t the greatest napper either…her father on the other hand can nap, nap, and nap some more. 

Turtle Turtle

Happy Tuesday morning!

What a weekend! I felt like we were going at warp speed doing things around the house Thursday, Friday, & Saturday. Then Sunday felt like it was in slow motion because we were in our pajamas almost all day.

Friday night was spent cleaning the back patio since we got new pool furniture. My parents & Angelo’s mom came over to hang out for a couple hours. 

Saturday I cleaned the entire house like this. We were both drenched in sweat afterwards, but Sophia seemed to find it quite comfortable. 

Then we went to a friend’s pool to celebrate Cinco de Mayo with some sun & Skinnygirl Margaritas. 

Sunday we lounged around the house until the afternoon, when we visited our turtle friends (we shout "tuuurtle tuuuurtle" when we see their little heads swimming over) on a hot & sweaty run in the afternoon heat. These big fellas always come and greet us at the edge of the pond at our turn around spot.

Monday morning I did a different type circuit workout with the punching bag, rowing machine, box jumps, and ropes instead of the usual Power Plate. Afterwards we went to JoAnn’s for supplies for a few craft projects (pics to come) and the grocery store to stock up for the week. Girl’s night was at a place called Green Iguana ($5 burger Mondays) & Menchies for dessert!

This morning we’re up early doing some stuff online for the new business while enjoying breakfast.

Cinnamon spice Alternative Bagel (link) for coffee dipping with a bowl of strawberries, blueberries, & mango.

Hope you have a great day! 

Love, 

Alex

M is for…

Mom
“The hardest job in the world, is the best job in the world.” This ProcterGamble commercial says it all.

Mother’s Day is this Sunday!

I'm going today to find my mom that 'perfect gift'  ;) & this Saturday I’m spending the day at the beach with my mom! 

Have you seen THIS, telling everyone to say NO to the usual celebrations of Mother’s Day. 

Who forgot dinner?

TGIF right?! 

This is what my Friday morning looks like, starting off the weekend!

Vegan Banana-Apple Bread with my morning latte! 

I made THIS recipe from FitSugar last night in between the chaos of picking out and installing new lighting for the dining room & entry way.Who knew changing out 4 lamps could take so dang long...!

By the time 8:30 rolled around Sophia was in a CRANK mood & so off to bed we went. By the time Sophia was asleep it was about 9:30 and my stomach was growling. We forgot to eat dinner! HA 

I went to the kitchen and ate a banana smothered in almond butter, brushed my teeth and went back to bed.

This morning the bread was delicious and super moist, like most vegan baked goods. No butter or anything needed! I had some catching up to do with work this morning since I didn't get anything done yesterday. We were driving around town like mad going to Dr. appts, helping Angelo's aunt move some stuff into a storage unit, etc. Today is no relaxation either, we're off to the Power Plate studio, then lunch with some old co-workers, then back home to clean out the "storage" room so we can convert it into a guest bedroom. Fun stuff! Hope you guys had a productive week! Any plans this weekend for Cinco de drinko Mayo? Looks like a pool day for us!

Love, 

Alex

L is for...

Lunch! What is your go-to lunch item?

Mine is usually a turkey sandwich with some pretzels or fruit if we’re home. 

May Plans with no plans

Good Morning Thursday!

I can’t believe it’s May already…May 3^rd to be exact. So many exciting events this month…all that we have absolutely no plans for yet!

May 5^th - Cinco de Mayo: Since high school, we’ve always gone out to Siesta Key, Sarasota for “Fiesta on Siesta” put on by some of our high school classmates. This year I think we’re going to do something low-key, maybe hang out by someone’s pool. All I know is that I’m definitely going to eat some major guacamole!

May 13^th - Mother’s Day: My first official Mother’s Day! Trying to figure out if we want to hang out by a hotel pool that Sunday. Hmmm, it's all up to little ol' me! ;)

May 28^th - Memorial Day: Usually spend it out on the beach, but again, no big plans yet. 

Over at Fitnessista, she's challenging all her readers to a Smoothie-a-day in May! Angelo drinks a smoothie almost every morning, while I only drink a smoothie about 2x a week for an extra pick-me-up after a workout or something. I'm going to try to UP my smoothies this month, so yesterday as part of my lunch I made this Blueberry-Banana smoothie.

Almond milk, 1/2 banana, handful of blueberries, JP Complete Protein, spoonful of almond butter, ice

Love,

Alex

K is for…

Kombucha
When thinking of K words, I realized I haven’t had my beloved Grape Kombucha for quite some time! Time to make a stop at Whole Foods! I usually go with the Synergy brand.

Keep your fingers off my butterfinger salad

He's a Keeper

New Years Eve 2010

I'm not vegan but I like vegan recipes

Good Morning Tuesday! 

Last night felt like we left Florida for a minute.

We found this little gem behind the restaurant we went to for girl's night. Ee went to a brand new place in town called Saladworks. It's kind of like a ColdStone but with salads. You can make your own or try one of their suggestions. They also have soups, sandwiches, and cookies! I ordered a half "Autumn Harvest" salad (romaine, craisins, dried apples, sunflower seeds, corn, and raspberry vinaigrette) with half Caprese sandwich. You could totally tell it's brand new and the 2 girls working weren't master's of the art. They forgot to put the tomato on my sandwich so I ate a grilled cheese. ;) I didn't mind, I never complain or ask to take my food back...it was still tasty. 

I wanted to share the recipe for the cinnamon raisin pancakes I made Saturday morning. Angelo loved them, so you know they're a keeper! I modified the recipe from Little Miss Healthy.

Cinnamon-Raisin Pancakes – vegan & sugar-free! woohoo!

Ingredients (made 5 medium sized pancakes)

1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
dash nutmeg
dash of salt
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup + 2 Tbsp. unsweetened almond milk

Instructions

- Start by warming up your pan.

- Mix the dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, salt, and raisins) together in a small mixing bowl. Make sure raisins are coated and not clumped together.

- Measure out your almond milk and stir it into the dry ingredients.  Stir batter gently just until thoroughly mixed.

- Drop about 1/4 cup batter onto a nonstick or greased pan/griddle/skillet and spread into a circle shape.

- Repeat with rest of batter. Flip pancakes after bubbles disappear and then cook on other side for additional 1-3 minutes.

- Serve hot & enjoy!

Yesterday I felt so overwhelmed with stuff to do and didn't get most of it done. This morning while eating my SCO I made a to-do list and already marked 2 things off! Sophia woke up earlier than normal so now I'm wide awake getting stuff done and she's back snoozing. Here's to a productive day!

Love, 

Alex

J is for…Jogging stroller!
I absolutely love my Joovy Jogging stroller. It could ultimately replace the Bugaboo stroller we splurged on…but I just couldn’t get rid of my beloved bugaboo ;)  If you only have the budget to get 1 stroller, get a jogging stroller. We use the jogging stroller almost every day whether it’s going on a run or just a stroll around the neighborhood to get out of the house. We’ve also used it to while out running errands if it just so happens to be the stroller in the trunk of the car at the time. It has more room for bags, drinks, etc than the other strollers, which you would think it’d be the other way around, right?